Charging mechanism for continuous heating furances



A ril 23, 1935. F. E. FLYNN 1,998,985

CHARGING MECHANISM FOR CONTINUOUS HEATING FURNACES Filed p 25, 1931 2Sheets-Sheet 1 EA Nk 5 rzmw aka 42144 5 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m n W FRANKE-FlY/VN April 23, 1935. F. E. FLYNN CHARGING MECHANISM FOR CONTINUOUSHEATING FURNACES Filed Sept. 25, 1951 Patented Apr. 23, 1935 1,998,985cnsnomo MECHANISM FOR CONTINUOUS HEATING Frank E. Flynn,

FURNACES Youngstown, Ohio Application September 25, 1931, Serial No.565,061

2 Claims.

sequently rolled into strip.

In the prior practice of charging continuous heating furnaces for slabs,or the like, long skids were provided in alignment with the chargingentrance of the furnace.

Associated with these skids were long charging rams'which engaged theslabs disposed on the skids and pushed them into the furnace. Incarrying out this practice it was necessary to manually line up a numberof slabs horizontally on the skids in abutting relation. The end slabremote from the furnace door was then engaged by the ram and the slabspushed through the furnace, the ram moving intermittently a distanceequal to the width of a slab whenever it was ed slab from the furnace.

desired to discharge a heat- This apparatus was cumbersome in operationand necessarily employed a great amount of space.

Furthermore,

it required men to work near the charging entrance of the furnacelengthy skids.

It is among the obj to line up the slabs n the ects of this invention,therefore, to provide a mechanism for charging slabs into a continuousfurnace which will take little space and can be disposed closelyadjacent the charging entrance of object of this invention the furnace.It is a further to provide a mechanism which will preclude the necessityof men working near the charging entrance of the furnace to line up theslabs prior to their entry therein.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a chargingmagazine for a continuous heating furnace which may be charged with aplurality of slabs at to charge the one time and then operated slabssuccessively into the furnace,

the machine being comparatively simple in construction and substantiallyautomatic in operation, thereby easily and economically chargingfurnaces of this type.

going and the less ancillary to the foreobjects are realized will appearin the following description which, considered in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, sets forth the preferred embodiment of theinvention.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises a cradle ormagazine having associated therewith a hydraulic plunger which isadapted to impart vertical movement to a load supporting platformdisposed wi thin the cradle. The cradle and associated mechanisms areadapted to be placed adjacent the charging entrance of a furnace. Areciprocating ram is effective to travel tansversely of the cradle tomove a slab from the platform and into the furnace.

Figure 1 is a plan view partly broken away illustrating my invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional shown in Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 5 designates a portion of thefront wall of a continuous heating furnace having charging openings 6therein, only one of the latter being shown here. The wall 5 ispreferably extended to provide a support I for a charging skid.

The charging machines are preferably arranged in pairs to accommodate adouble furnace, although only one is herein shown for the purpose ofillustration. Each machine comprises a magazine or cradle, generallydesignated at 8, adapted to receive a plurality or stack of slabs, saidmagazine being stationarily supported on a suitable base structure suchas concrete or the like. As shown, this magazine or cradle is in theform of a casting having a front wall 8a remote from the furnace whichterminates on opposite sides in upright portions or standards 81), and arear wall 80 which is recessed and terminates in outwardly extendingportions 8d. Secured to the front and rear walls 8a. and 80 by bolts 9are guides or track members I0. Mounted to reciprocate substantiallyvertically on the guides III is a slab lifter or platform I I providedwith flanged wheels I2 which travel in said guides. This member II issecured on the upper end of a plunger I3 by means of a bolt I4, thelower extremity of said plunger being mounted for reciprocatory movementin a cylinder I5, extreme vertical movement of the plunger being limitedby a stop flange I6. The assembly as shown includes packing glands onrings I1 and a retaining collar I8. The cylinder I5 may be positioned ina well formed in a suitable base, the upper extremity thereof beingformed with a flanged portion I50. which rests on an annular base memberI9, the latter having the lower ends of the guides I0 secured thereto bybolts 20. The plunger I3 is preferably fluid operated, the operatingfluid being admitted to the cylinder I5 at the lower end thereof throughan inlet port 2|, a suitable pipe or flexible conduit connection 22being secured to the cylinder at this point and extending to a controlvalve, (not shown), which may be either manually or automaticallyoperated, as desired.

Skids 23 are provided for supporting the slabs elevation of the viewwhen the latter are pushed from the platform I I and into the furnace 5.As shown, these skids have one end thereof remote from the furnace andfitted in the recessed portion of the wall lc of the cradle 8 andpivotally mounted on pins 24, while the opposite extremities of saidskids rest on the support 1 adjacent the charging port of the furnace. Apair of skids 23 are provided for each charging mechanism, but it willbe understood that when a plurality of the devices are arranged side byside or in pairs, the two intermediate skids may be dispensed with,depending upon the size of the slabs being handled.

The cradle 8 is formed with "outwardly extending side flanges 25 whichare provided with bolt holes 25a to receive bolts for attaching anadjacent machine when the machines are arranged in pairs as abovespecified.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the improvedcharging machines may receive a plurality or stack of slabs from a craneor the like and thereafter raise the stack to bring one or more slabssuccessively into a plane substantially in line with the furnaceopenings 6 ready to be pushed onto the skids and thence into thefurnace. As the slabs are brought into this position, they are pushedinto the furnace preferably by the mechanism herein shown, although anysuitable type of slab-charging apparatus may be used. This mechanism asshown comprises a frame structure, generally indicated at 30, having aram 3|, which terminates in a ram-head 32, mounted for horizontalreciprocatory movement therein. The ram 3| is driven by means of a drivepinion 33 which meshes with teeth 34 formed on said ram, said pinionbeing secured on a shaft 35 through suitable bearings in the frame 30,the drive being applied to said shaft by means of a reversible motor 36through suitable reduction gearing generally indicated at 31.

The operation of the charging apparatus is substantially as follows:

Assume that the platform II has been lowered to the dotted line positionin Figure 2 by an operator opening the control valve and releasing thefluid pressure in the cylinder i 5. This places the machine in loadingposition so that a bundle of slabs may be deposited in the magazine orcradle 8 by a crane or other suitable device. When the magazine has beenloaded with slabs, the operator works the valve control lever and admitssufflcient pressure into the cylinder l5 to raise the platform H adistance. equal to the thickness of each slab, bringing the latter'clearof the magazine 8, whereupon the rams 3| move forward and pushthe slabsonto the skids 23 and then retract ready to repeat the operation, theslabs being thus pushed successively one against the other into thefurnace opening 6.

It will be understood that the entire apparatus including the controlvalve for the elevating mechanism and ram mechanism could be connectedup and driven in synchronism so that the charging operation would befully automatic; also the stroke of the plunger l3 could be such that aplurality of slabs would be raised into charging position clear of thecradle 8, and various other modifications in structure and operationadopted within the scope of the invention, as recited in the appendedclaims.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for charging slabs into the charging opening of a heatingfurnace comprising: a magazine mounted below the level of the openingand having substantially vertical guide members secured to the sidewalls thereof, a slab supporting platform mounted for vertical movementin the magazine and provided with wheels adapted to engage said guidemembers, a fluid operated plunger connected to said platform, a pressurecylinder in which said plunger has movement, means for admitting a fluidmedium I under pressure into said cylinder to impart a verticalstep-by-step movement to said platform, skids connecting said magazinewith said charging opening, a substantially horizontal reciprocating rammounted in rear of said magazine, and means for reciprocating said mm topush the slabs from the magazine onto said skids and into and throughsaid charging opening.

2. Apparatus for charging slabs into the charging opening of a heatingfurnace comprising: a magazine mounted below the level of said openingand having vertical trackways located in the side walls thereof, aplatform mounted for vertical travel in said magazine and adapted tosupport a plurality of slabs in stacked relation, said platform beingprovided with flanged wheels adapted to engage said tracks, a plungerconnected to said platform, a fluid pressure cylinder in which saidplunger has movement, means for admitting a fluid medium under pressureinto said cylinder to raise said platform step -by-step to bring theslabs successively into horizontal alignment with the top of themagazine, skids connecting the top of the magazine with the furnaceopening, a horizontally reciprocating pusher mounted in rear of saidmagazine, and means for reciprocating said pusher to. push the slabsclear of said magazine onto-said skids and into and through the furnaceopening. 7

- FRANK E. FLYNN.

